【经岚传递】16L33
污染-增长纽带下的最优健康和环境政策
——[读论文]之“环境经济政策”系列
编译/XB
本期【经岚传递】所介绍的是来自于Min Wang, JinhuaZhao,Joydeep Bhattacharya等发表在Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (71(2015)160–179)的“Optimal health and environmental policies in apollution-growth nexus”一文。
文章摘要
本文解释了致力于降低健康风险的储蓄(保险)政策与改善环境的政策是如何地相互交叉在一起,进而影响到福利水平。以中国的近期发展为例,大规模污染的存在意味着,家庭有必要节省开支进行健康上的自我保险,预防由于疾病而带来的各种健康开支,这一效应对于健康水平较差的家庭尤为明显。家庭储蓄的增加会带来更多的资本和投资,而投资又会形成更多的污染,这便是“污染-增长”纽带。从资本积累的视角看,这个纽带是很有“吸引力”的。但是,这个纽带的另一面则是,随着污染的增多,健康水平受损,并波及社会整体福利。健康保险和环境保护政策同步影响着资本的积累,并形成额外的动态收益。对此,作者认为,如果在私人健康保险和环境保护政策以及所得税征收上稍作设计,也许仍有可能使得经济实现最优的增长水平。
a b s t r a c t
This paper shows how policies aimed at insuring health risks and those intended to improve the environment are (and should be)deeply intertwined. In the model economy recent Chinese experience, pollution raises the likelihood of future,poor health prompting households to save more so as to self-insure against anticipated medical expenses. Increased household saving generates more capital while capital use by firms generates more pollution. Along the transition,such a “pollution-growth nexus” may be attractive from a capital-accumulation perspective; however, rising pollution,via the health channel,hurts welfare.Both insurance and environmental policies affect capital accumulation and can have additional dynamic benefits.The availability of private health insurance to top up pay-as-you-go coverage of medical bills along witha Pigouvian tax on emissions and a profit tax can replicate the first best.
小编注:限于时间的关系,对该文的介绍仅有摘要,如对详细内容感兴趣,请查阅文章原文(或向小编留言索要)。本文的价值在于,基于污染与健康之间的内生关系,污染水平的提高不仅仅只是损害到健康,更会由于对资本积累的双重影响而进一步强化污染水平。这一点,是当下中国社会经济发展不得不防的。
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